That's What Friends Are For
by Sekana Katayama
Summary: The fourth and NOT final installment in the story of Felfe, the effeminate male night-elf who always found himself in bad situations.
1. Chapter 1

Greetings, I'm Sekana Katayama. This is the fourth and final installment in the series of _Why Can't We Be Friends_. Here is the order in which to read.

_1) Why Can't We Be Friends?_

_2) Just Friends_

_3) More Than Friends_

_4) That's What Friends Are For_

So if you're interested in this story and have not read from the start, please go all the way back to the first story and work your way up from there. I promise it's all good stuff. Really.

**Reviewers: **My apologies for the delay in getting these most recent chapters up. The document uploader was giving me quite the attitude.

**Disclaimer: **It's safe to say that I _do not _own Warcraft. But I do own my 'creations.' This means all of my characters. And I have a lot of characters. I also own the MORMRIS.

* * *

**That's What Friends Are For**

**Chapter One**

As they drew closer to the aboveground entrance to Undercity, those gates that seemed as undead mouths opening to swallow unwary walkers, it was Felfe who noted the absence of the steady stream of travelers going to and from the place. The zeppelin tower was silent and occupied only by the goblins that normally guarded and operated it, and even they appeared unusually quiet.

"Something must have happened." Kain surmised, a prick of warning alerting him to possible danger. "I'll go on ahead."

"Don't be ridiculous," Yuren scoffed. "If there's trouble, you're the first target."

"What?" Felfe asked hurriedly, suddenly worried, glancing at Kain to see the barely visible nod. "Why would they target you?"

"I hold power here. People naturally attack what they believe is evil at its source." Kain explained, making Felfe rather more confused than he had been with his elaborateness.

"They think you're evil?" Felfe's expression assumed a familiar confusion, one that he had never gotten comfortable with despite its commonality.

"Not exactly." Kain frowned and admitted, "However, when things go wrong, I am the one who shoulders the blame."

"Oh." Felfe said, expressing his complete understanding of the situation in a single word.

Meanwhile, Yuren was impatient as always. "_Lance and I_ will go on ahead, and you two can hide in the bushes or something. _I_ don't care." He had revealed too much of his caring side after he had rescued Felfe from trolls and found Kain alive and unharmed, and he was loathe to make it a habit.

"He also doesn't care what you do while in the bushes." Lance reassured them aloud, joking in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Pfft. We're going." Yuren barked the command, and started on the path to the gates without so much as a gesture to invite Lance to follow.

Lance shrugged and bowed to Felfe, who waved him away, embarrassed that his friend was treating him like a member of royalty.

"Take care of Yuren." Felfe said, unable to not say anything at all. For reasons unknown to him, the sentence carried an implication that wasn't too far from the mark, and Lance laughed in barely disguised surprise, looking pleased. Kain likewise smiled at Felfe's oblivious comment.

Yuren didn't turn back towards them, and only sighed. "I can take care of myself, Felfe." But his words didn't carry the threat they should have, and Felfe smiled at his undead back.

"Then make sure you take care of Lance, too." Felfe said encouragingly, thinking he understood, believing that Yuren's denial was due to his inability to accept the idea that maybe he needed help defending himself sometimes, too.

Lance flushed slightly and went to follow Yuren, muttering to him something about how he didn't need to be taken care of, at which point Yuren scaldingly reminded him of the incident with the kitchen knife and a certain paladin who fainted on him at the sight of a severed finger. Lance fell silent.

"I suppose we'd better find some bushes." Kain suggested calmly, and after the sentence he paused and seemed to reevaluate his dignity, and sighed.

Felfe, of course unaware of any loss of pride Kain had suffered by saying such a thing, followed along, nodding.

They found a nice clump of nearby foliage that could be termed 'bushes' and crawled through the scratchy brambles to sit inside the leafy bubbles that then encased them, hiding them from casual view. It wasn't terribly comfortable because of the limited space and sharp braches everywhere, but Felfe managed to remedy that, at least for himself, by sitting on Kain instead of the hard earth.

Naturally, Kain didn't mind, and they sat there in near silence for a while, exchanging quiet words every so often to make sure the other was still there, or in Felfe's case, still awake, because the night-elf, reveling in the warm embrace, had closed his eyes at some point, and the only indication that he hadn't fallen asleep was his occasional words.

One of these occasional points came after a long time of their occupation of the bushes, when Felfe turned an adorably sleepy expression on his companion. "Do you think they're in any trouble?"

Kain, having thought of the possibility himself, only assumed an uncertain expression, and held Felfe closer. "Perhaps. It does seem strange…"

* * *

Yuren and Lance strode out of the elevator and into the center of Undercity, and were greeted with a sight stranger than anything they had ever expected to see there. Everyone had cleared out from the area, even the vendors, and in return there was a large but organized crowd surrounding a lone figure, who seemed to be standing on a sort of elevated platform, casually standing there and speaking as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

Everything changed when the two of them walked into view, the undead warrior, main tank for the guild, and his apparent friend, the leader of the Alliance himself, Lord Lancelot. Co-conspirators, they looked like, to the crowd who had been thinking in such a way already.

"Yuren? I'm surprised to see you back here already." The blood-elf on the platform said, sounding sincere but the surprise never reached his eyes. He had obviously expected them to arrive around the time they did, and seemed to have rehearsed his lines accordingly.

"_LIAM!?_" Yuren shrieked immediately upon recognizing the man, striding up to the crowds and roughly pushing his way through to get close enough to the platform to be sure. "What the _HELL _are you doing in Undercity?"

Lance had followed close behind his companion in order to maintain some level of dignity and security, although they were now enclosed in a small circle by the crowd, which was a terribly dangerous set-up since Liam was in the circle with them.

When no one said anything in response to Yuren, the undead grew alarmed. "You were BANISHED! Why aren't the fucking _guards _–"

Liam let a hint of a smirk drift over his face, but he was still maintaining his calm façade for the crowd, so he only smiled an oddly serene smile, and said with chilling confidence, "No one felt like it was necessary to arrest me. I have a reprieve for the time being."

Lance saw Yuren's eyes, orbs of petrified yellow light, widen a fraction, and he called out, "Did they forget the attempted murder by which you were indicted?"

A few disinterested murmurs were all that showed that the crowd had heard the charge at all, and even those faded away quickly until the gathering was silent again for a brief time before the continued conflict.

"They were made aware of other matters which are much more important. Or rather, were." Liam said offhandedly, as if what he was saying hardly mattered except to the uninformed newcomers he was addressing.

"What have you been _doing_ to them? Answer me THAT, Liam!" Yuren demanded, fuming at the scene which was becoming all the more clear. "What ridiculous ideas have you put into their heads?"

Lance looked around at the crowd, expecting to see gullible types, and getting a shock. They were all level seventy. And they were all raiding members of the Horde's guild. Was it possible that they were all on Liam's side, whatever this was about? But then, the guild was led by Kain, and everyone had to be aware of the sort of thing that had happened what seemed like years ago between him and Liam. So then, why…?

"I have told them the truth, and they have decided for themselves what is right and what is wrong." Liam said cryptically, eyes narrowing slightly as he looked down at them. If he hadn't been surrounded by the others, Lance suspected the elf would have had a smug look on his face.

* * *

"I'm worried about them." Felfe stated at last, tired of the concerned looks he shared with Kain every few minutes, wordless but obvious in meaning.

"As am I," Kain said, well-hidden distress hinted at. "I'm not sure what we can do yet."

"Could we go look for them?" Felfe pleaded, also apprehensive of danger but needing to do something, anything, to relieve his spiraling thoughts. "We could be careful."

"Careful? You mean that we should enter through the air-flow system?" Kain assumed far too much, not realizing that Felfe had no idea that there even _was _an air-flow system in Undercity, nevermind the details and possible entrance it presented to them.

"We can do that?" Felfe asked, not having meant anything in particular by 'careful' except perhaps that he would stealth, as if that did any good around higher levels anyway.

"It has been done," Kain mused, eyes closing for a moment. "It might be the only option we have, at least for now. They've been gone far too long for everything to be fine."

"All right." Felfe said somberly, relinquishing his seat on Kain so that they could both extract themselves from the foliage. He slipped immediately into stealth, already intimidated by the idea that something dangerous could be going on in Undercity.

"Here," Kain beckoned, and Felfe crept over to him, a pale silhouette easily visible at close range. When the night-elf was standing in front of him, Kain began to whisper to him furtively, aware that anyone who saw him would see a blood-elf speaking into thin air. Or, to more clever minds, talking to a rogue.

"I know you can't keep up with me while you're in stealth, so I want you to follow as closely as you can. Once I get to the entrance of the air-flow system, I'll help you up and go after you. It's a simple matter of crawling through until we find the slits where the air goes out – from there we'll be able to see parts of Undercity." Kain explained, and then hesitated, warning, "But if the system is on, there will be air elementals floating through it, and we'll have to find some way to dismantle the system."

Felfe nodded, understanding the big picture. Get in, see what's going on, but be careful and turn off system if there are air elementals. Except Kain didn't seem to know exactly where to find the means to turn off the system.

"Let's go." Kain said quietly, and took Felfe's hand in his for a moment to give it an encouraging squeeze. Then their hands parted ways, and Kain went on ahead with Felfe attempting to follow him at a much slower and stealthier pace.

They found the air-flow entrance soon after entering the inside of Undercity, before taking the elevator down to the main area. In one of the small, stone halls there was a conspicuous plate in part of the ceiling, something of an air vent. Kain hastily pried it open with his sword, trying not to make too much noise and attract attention, if anyone was even around. Probably not. People always stayed mainly in the center of Undercity, vaguely below them somewhere.

The metal plate came out, and an opening large enough for a good-sized air elemental appeared to them. Since an air elemental usually made elves look like dwarves in comparison, both of them were able to fit into the tunnel-like area without much difficulty, though they could not crawl along side-by-side, forcing Felfe to brave the corridor first with Kain following.

"Oh-" Felfe stopped himself from swearing, though it was hardly necessary.

"Elementals?" Kain guessed, and saw a silvery head nod in confirmation.

"What are we gonna do?" Felfe asked apprehensively, and the answer he received didn't thrill him.

"Stay here – I'll try to find a way to shut the power off without attracting attention." Kain ordered, and then as a last note of advice, muttered, "And try to stay as quiet as possible in here, just in case."

"In case what?" Felfe asked, but his sentence was muffled by the short, sharp sound of the metal grate being put back into place. "Sprinkles…"

* * *

"Oh, honestly. Do you expect them to believe you now?" Liam asked annoyingly, having the privilege of Yuren's ears alone as he bent down to whisper. "You never had a chance, poor thing."

He checked the handcuffs to make sure that they were still tight and locked completely. They were. Just to be sure, he checked the ones on Lancelot as well, and nodded the same satisfied nod, at which point he stood back up and addressed the crowd, the guards flanking him and his new prisoners only serving to make him seem more tangible, more like a leader than before.

"They will be questioned about what they know, and in the meantime kept in a place where they cannot try to escape and make our efforts seem like anything other than they are." Liam's cryptic messages were normality now, and the crowd nodded appreciatively at what the meaning seemed to be rather than what he was actually saying.

Liam continued to make his point memorable. "These two would love to spread the word of our group as a rebellion, some sort of chaotic gathering of desperates. We are not rebels. We are simply a guild unappreciated and scorned, looking to build itself up once again as what it deserves to become – a group of raiders, confident and powerful, taking full opportunity of raiding with a leader who does not misuse their time."

At the last part of his lengthy explanation and inspirational talk, the crowd began cheering, and soon there came a great roar of assent and agreement that nearly shattered the halls of Undercity themselves. Yuren and Lance were so thoroughly shocked and helpless that they could only stand there, cuffed and restrained by guards, and watch Liam's unnerving and obvious manipulation of the guild members.

"Guards, take them away." Liam murmured the command, and by the quirking of his lips into a smug smile which he quickly masked, the two captives could tell that he had always wanted to say it.

"I can't _believe_ I tried to get him _not _to kill you." Yuren muttered, making sure he said it just loud enough that Liam heard. "You _bastard_."

Liam only waved a hand with mock carelessness as the guards half-dragged, half-walked Yuren and Lance to the dungeons. The crowd watched the prisoners leave and then as soon as the disturbance had gone their eyes shifted back to Liam, ever watching, always absorbed in whatever he said. And Liam _always_ made sure he had something to say.

It was really pathetic that it had come to this, though. They just didn't understand. He could never be free so long as there was memory of his own mistakes. And he wanted freedom more than he cared about what he did to get it. By the very chance that he made the mistake of trying to kidnap Felfe, and by the very occurrence of that battle where he was subsequently banished from Undercity and the other locations, something irreversible had happened with could not now be changed. Kain's own decision to banish him now led to a comeuppance, one that the blood-elf 'Lord' would not be pleased to find, and would be downright shocked to see support for, especially from his very own guild members.

'_You never had a chance of keeping your guild in line after that happened, Kain.' _Liam pondered to himself, aware that he wasn't actually talking to the blood-elf royalty. _'Just like I never had a chance. But that goes far back – I doubt you would remember.'_

* * *

A knock came at the metal grate close to Felfe's feet, and he inched forward to let Kain take out the cover for the air-flow system. The grate slid out of place, and he heard it being placed softly on the ground before hands reached for him and settled on his boots temporarily.

"I need to help you out of there for now." Kain cautioned to prepare the night-elf, and the slowly extracted Felfe from the tunnel with the help of Felfe himself.

When Felfe was down on the ground, Kain gave out his information. "I can't find a way to shut the system down without going down there and possibly ending up in a dangerous place."

Felfe paled, and nodded, the realities of 'dangerous place' hitting him. Hard.

"I'm going to go into the tunnel first, dispose of the air elementals, and you'll follow after me. You won't be able to close the grate, but we'll have to sacrifice evidence for efficiency." Kain explained, pulling Felfe into a quick embrace before climbing up into the ventilation system.

Felfe frowned, but followed after anyway, not at all satisfied with his level of experience with battles, not at all satisfied with his lack of weapon skill with swords, which he had picked out recently on their way back to Undercity. But it would have to do.

Kain began making quick work of the air elementals patrolling the ventilation shaft, assuming a hardened expression at the realization that doing so was going to destroy the air-flow system beyond casual repair. Desperate times called for desperate and unconventional measures.

Felfe crawled along the tunnel behind Kain, hearing the soft clangs of the Hungering Cold as ice met air, and elementals perished one by one. They moved through the ventilation shaft as quietly as possible, and every so often there would be slits in the metal under them, air vents looking onto various parts of the floor they had just been on.

"The tunnel splits into two here, we're taking the one leading downwards, towards the main area of the city." Kain whispered, pausing after defeating another elemental so that his words could be heard in the resulting silence.

"Okay." Felfe said softly.

Kain went towards the path on the left, with sloped down very steeply for a good distance, and cautioned before he went in, "Be careful, you'll end up sliding down this part."

And then Kain entered the sloping tunnel and soon disappeared. Felfe crawled up to it, looked down at the sharply sloping metal air-flow shaft, and winced. He went into it beginning to tremble, and tried to relax as he pushed himself into the tunnel. The descent was harsh and fast as he more or less flew through the air. The tunnel had more or less opened up in size, and he noted at some point during his fall that he should have repositioned himself and fallen legs-first rather than hands-first, as it was.

Kain was waiting to catch him, probably having anticipated such a mistake, so Felfe felt himself fall onto an armored but semi-soft object that cringed slightly with the impact that knocked it down but otherwise seemed unharmed.

Felfe stayed there for a moment, laying on top of his companion and recovering from the recent trauma, breathing hard against the comforting chest. "T-thanks…"

"Any time." Kain murmured, wrapping careful arms around him for a moment.

They parted and managed to stand up awkwardly in the part of the tunnel that had a higher metal ceiling due to the sharp slope slanting upwards. Felfe brushed himself off despite the absence of dirt in the cold, metal ventilation shaft, and Kain ran a hand through his hair before pondering their options.

"We should be getting closer to the main area now." He informed Felfe, seeing glowing eyes looking to him for guidance. "I'll tell you when I get to a grate. We'll be able to see if anything is going on from there."

Felfe nodded in the semi-darkness, the movement made more obvious by the moving flecks of white that were his eyes. "All right."

Kain went into a crouch, and then began inching carefully into the tunnel, where it narrowed in height. Felfe did the same, and soon they were back on track, with Kain slaying an air elemental every so often and progressing through the air-flow system.

It was only a few minutes, but seemed like much longer, before Kain paused significantly, and made a noise of recognition. He had found the grate, and was peering through the slits to examine the scene far below them.

"What…?" A sharp intake of breath choked the word as it left Kain's lips. "_NO._"

"What is it? What's wron-"

"He's here! This shouldn't be happening, how did they –" Kain paused hollowly, and his voice was tortured when he continued. "Wait… wait… no…"

Felfe stayed still, helpless and unaware of the horrors Kain was witnessing that very moment, knowing only that it had to be something terrifying for the commander of the Horde to suddenly break.

"_No…!_" Kain exclaimed abruptly, as if in response to something hidden from Felfe's view, and then let slip a hint of what was going on. "Damn it, they never stood a chance!"

"Are they okay? Yuren and-"

"For now, but I don't know. I don't know!" Kain whispered the last part to himself with a touch of insanity, and at last Felfe could wait no longer to demand to know what he was seeing.

"What's going on!?" The night-elf tried to ask in a demanding tone, but it sounded more of a squeak.

"Liam." Kain said quietly, voice nothing but cold steel, the voice of the Hungering Cold itself.

"No!" Felfe cried, with complete understanding of Kain's sudden breakdown. "How is he _here?_ I-I thought he was banished!"

"I don't know!" Kain snapped, still staring down through the holes in the grate. "They took them to the dungeons."

"Yuren and Lance!?"

"Yes."

"Couldn't they fight him?" Felfe asked, in a way that seemed like pleading, however little sense that made.

"He has the _guild_ on his side." Kain said softly, and there was the sound of a drop of water hitting metal. Tears.

"Your… your guild?" Felfe looked down at his hands, on the cold steel of the tunnel, and knew that Kain was losing it now, thinking he had come here to protect those who now betrayed him so thoroughly.

A drop of water hitting metal. Tears.

"You had all of them on your side, didn't you?" Kain muttered, as if speaking directly to Liam, that ruiner of hope and betrayer of loyalties. "And they believe all your lies…?"

A drop of water hitting metal. Tears.

"What are we gonna do?" Felfe asked, panicked. "Yuren and Lance, will they…"

"I'm not sure." Kain replied, and whether it was to one question or the other, neither of them knew.

* * *

"Something is not right." Alyane said with a tinge of apprehensiveness, scanning the area around them, the path to Undercity, and seeing no one and nothing moving.

Silya, completely refreshed since the night's sleep, was unused to being so aware of her surroundings, and noticed acutely the difference in what she had expected to see at the path to Undercity. "It's deserted. But didn't Lance say that they were going back here? There should be tons of people coming in from the zeppelin to see us back…"

"I sense that… there might be trouble." Alyane said much too calmly, without so much as an ounce of satisfaction that usually accompanied her predictions, however grim.

Silya looked to her teacher for a verdict, and got one quickly.

"We are going to see what has happened. Follow closely, and I will do my best to protect you should there be danger." Alyane instructed, and then walked up the path and into the courtyard.

They crossed the courtyard and entered the castle-like interior that led to the elevators. Alyane insisted on searching the corridors before using the elevators, mainly because she noted Silya's frozen demeanor at the thought of stepping inside one of the death traps again.

"Alyane," Silya called out quietly to her teacher, who was out in the main part of the hallway by the small table. "Come see this."

They examined the metal grate lying on the floor, and the orifice in the ceiling presented to them, and Alyane's mind flew past the mere idea of the tunnel's use as a secret entrance to Undercity.

"They used the air-flow system to get in." She mused. "But was it invaders, or investigators?"

"I'm going." Silya said stubbornly, and began to climb into the ventilation shaft.

Alyane maintained a firm grip on her student's cloak, and tugged her back down to the ground with a stern expression. "I will go first. There could be air elementals respawning."

"Respawning?" Silya asked before realizing. "Oh, you mean… someone must have gone through and killed them already? That's far too drastic, no one would ever – I mean, they could just turn off the system couldn't they?"

"Not if they did not want to risk revealing their presence." Alyane said briskly, and climbed up into the ventilation shaft first, making the action as graceful as possible despite the difficulty added by her dress and slippers. Silya managed to get up with a great deal more difficulty and bearing a humiliating resemblance to… herself.

There were no air elementals left, and it was clear that whoever had come through the tunnel had not been long gone. Alyane went first with Silya following close behind her, and after a few minutes they came to a fork in the tunnel.

"The right tunnel leads around this floor, which is useless because we have already searched here." Alyane replied, in response to Silya's question of which path to take. "The left tunnels slopes downward, to the main area of Undercity below us."

Alyane took the left tunnel, managing to slide down the steep slope maintaining her dignity. Silya did the same, having watched her teacher's movements like always, and mimicked them. They both ended up in the next part of the tunnel, and returned to crawling along the metal enclosure in silence.

* * *

"We will have to wait until we can get him alone." Kain finally managed to calm himself somewhat with the idea of making a plan. "And then…"

"What are we gonna do, though?" Felfe asked worriedly. "If he turned them against you, how can we get them to listen to us?"

"I didn't think about that," Kain admitted, his voice taking on a morbid tone. "After all, after the leader of a rebellion is killed, usually his accomplices lose faith in the movement."

"You're going to kill him?" Felfe asked, feeling a sense of déjà vu with the familiar sentence from when he had tried to stop Kain from 'disposing of' Liam a long time ago.

"I should have done it then." Kain muttered. "So I shall have to do it now."

"That's my fault…" Felfe admitted mournfully. "I didn't realize then how much he hated you, or whatever his goal is."

"I'd rather not think about his goal." Kain closed his eyes in an attempt to clear his mind, and his emotions, of Liam.

"Wait, shhh!" Felfe hushed him, and Kain, surprised, complied.

The sounds of others approaching in the tunnel made Kain nearly panic once again, urging Felfe to follow him in an attempt to avoid the intruders by the only means possible – outdistancing them in the narrow tunnel.

"No, wait, what if they're okay?" Felfe asked, implying by the word 'okay' that they might be friendly to their plight. "Hey! Who's there?"

"Felfe?" A distinguished voice asked, sounding surprised for what must have been one of the only times in her life. "Kain is with you, I presume?"

"Yes. Alyane, is it?" Kain sounded thoroughly relieved to hear the familiar voice for what must have been one for the only times in his life.

"Kain!" Silya shouted, excited to hear her brother's voice after such a long time worrying for his life. "I'm here, too!"

"Silya." Kain greeted her with another dose of relief. "I'm glad."

"What's going on?" Silya asked them, and it was obvious by the very fact that the four of them were in a ventilation shaft far above the main area of Undercity that she was talking of the dangerous situation of which she and Alyane did not yet understand.

"Liam is here." Kain said quickly, ignoring the reactions of the other two blood-elves. "And he has turned the guild against us. Or, I should say, against me. And Yuren and Lancelot are now being held in the dungeons, no doubt being questioned for our whereabouts."

"Are you sure of this?" Alyane asked grimly, her emerald eyes blazing with something like fear and determination.

"I am watching it at this very moment." Kain said disheartenedly. "The slits in the grate."

"Yuren and Lance went on ahead, didn't they?" Silya asked, knowing the answer already.

"Yes. They were captured by the guards while talking to Liam. He has the guild there with him, right now." Kain then started to fume, eyes narrowing. "Telling them his lies."

"This is…" Alyane paused, for once searching for the right word, and grasping air. "I cannot believe it. I would not, if this wasn't such a…" She halted again, and sighed.

"It's horrible." Silya picked up where her teacher left off, sounding a little shaken as if she was still trying to comprehend what all this meant. "This means… Liam is guildmaster now? What can we do against that?"

"I don't know." Kain answered, again to either question, and then specified. "As for what we can do, the only thing I can think of is that we find him when he is alone or less guarded. Right now, the crowd around him is more than enough to protect him from us."

"And what then?" Alyane pressed, eyebrow raising a fraction. "Do you intend to kill him?"

"If it must be done, I shall." Kain admitted, and then said, in a low, dangerous voice, "Gladly."

The other three suppressed reactions of some sort to this, and then attempted to construct a sort of support for the plan.

"We will have to find somewhere safe to hide until his meeting with the guild is over, but one of us still needs to watch through this grate to tell the rest of us when Liam leaves and where he goes." Alyane suggested, thinking things out.

"This is a safe enough place to hide for the time being, yes, and I would advocate staying here indefinitely, but one of us needs to go on ahead to see where the other grates lead to, so we can better plan out all the routes we can take to slip into the city." Kain presented the idea, and Alyane nodded before realizing that only Silya could see her.

"Yes, that sounds agreeable. It will have to be you who scouts, since we can't get past each other here. Unless we retreat to the place where the slope joins the tunnel, where we might have room to switch places…?" Alyane pondered, and then nodded to herself. "Yes, that might work."

"I will still take on the role of scout, regardless." Kain said commandingly. "The three of you can take turns at the grate."

He went on ahead, and Felfe inched forward to peer down through the holes in the grate. His breath caught abruptly, despite thinking he knew what he was going to see.

Liam stood there on a platform of some sort, and he was surrounded by a crowd of people who must have been Kain's guild members. What's more, he recognized a few of them from around the mansion various times. Here was a priest he remembered had healed him, there was Melinda, the warlock who had defended him from Liam himself. There was a paladin who had rushed over to Lance after the battle with Liam, gushing that there could be no man of greater virtue than one that refused to run in order to prove undying loyalty to his companion. How had they been so well convinced? What had Liam said that could have made them see him not as a threat but a friend?

Felfe belatedly realized that Silya and Alyane had been calling his name softly, and he gave a start. "W-what?"

"What's wrong?" Silya asked quickly, concerned over Felfe's unnatural quiet.

"H-he… he has all of them just like," Felfe hesitated, unsure of his voice. "They look like they believe whatever he says."

"Maybe they do," Silya whispered into the awkward and stuffy silence, and then fell silent herself.

Alyane and Silya retreated to the area where slope met the floor of the tunnel, and stood up awkwardly, at least able to stretch in the added space. Silya, still under the after-effects of the potion, was not at all weary, but Alyane, who had lately been worried for her student and hadn't gotten as much rest, was tired enough to sink down to the metal floor and into a sitting position.

'_I wish I could hear what he was saying to them,' _Felfe thought, clenching fists to keep the fear at bay.

* * *

"Oh, they're here, mark my words." Liam assured the crowd, casting a serious and yet confident glance around the large main area of the city as if expecting the 'intruders' to materialize at that very moment. "No doubt they're apprehensive now since they only sent those two first. No, I think they will wait for a better moment to confront us."

The use of the word 'us' tied Liam further to the group's cause as they saw it, but even so they nodded agreement before he was even finished with the sentence. They followed him now, like blind soldiers, because of the way he had fed them truth after truth with just the right amount of honey.

"Perhaps they'll try to sneak in like criminals. Wouldn't that be ironic?" Liam tilted his head to the side casually, inviting assent with his created smile.

Various voices raised in agreement, and glances were exchanged, full of understanding of the irony. The Lord Kain, sneaking into his own city as if he had been exiled from it and was returning in secret, which was just what Liam himself had done. It was a flip, and it made them consider Kain as the one who had wronged, not the one who was wronged. Liam had slid into Kain's role and now the only position for Kain was the space formerly occupied by the banished convict himself.

"Then again," Liam mused, faking light interest. "Maybe they are already sneaking in as we speak. I wonder how they would do that?" The question was asked curiously, as if Liam actually had no idea of such a thing. His audience, forgetting the fact that Liam had secretly infiltrated Undercity just a few days ago, began to supply what information they knew.

"The easiest way would be the air-flow system," One blood-elf hunter called out, wanting to say something that would prove helpful to Liam and 'their' cause. "All they would have to do is crawl into the ventilation shafts and kill off the air elementals."

"Hey, wait," A priest said immediately after the other stopped speaking. "Doesn't it feel a little stuffy in here?"

Noises of recognition abounded, and it seemed that the crowd simultaneously realized what must have happened. Various cries of 'they're here already!' and 'they're in the air-flow system!' reached Liam, and he looked entirely satisfied.

"My, it seems that you're right! Well, then, we'll have to make sure they don't take us by surprise." Although Liam finished the sentence without another question, the way he trailed off at the end hinted at something unfinished, like an unspoken inquiry.

"Of course!" A tauren druid wearing engineering goggles supplied, "If we turn the heat system on, the fire elementals will be able to catch them in an ambush."

A troll mage, probably fire-specced, added, "Ja, mon, an' dat be makin' da metal tunnel inta sum bad place ta be, what wit da metal heatin' up."

"What genius!" Liam's eyes seemed to sparkle, and he smiled down at them with pride. "That sounds like an excellent idea. Would someone with some expertise with engineering go and turn on the heat system?"

More than a few hands were raised, but despite the logic of only sending one or two, Liam let all five of them go to do the task, because otherwise the ones left out would feel unwanted and useless, and he could not have that. Not only were all five satisfied with being able to be important, but the rest of the crowd, aware for once of the action's effects, thought Liam a tactful leader for making such a decision.

"We might even get to see our intruders soon, if this works well enough." Liam said rewardingly, as if it was some sort of treat, and the crowd lapped it up. "After all, where else is there to go in a burning metal tunnel besides out?"

* * *

"Some of them just left the crowd." Felfe noted aloud, confused. "Do you think they're on our side?"

"No," Alyane said dismissively. "He wouldn't let them go freely if that was the case. They probably have some sort of task to do. What do they look like?"

"Well," Felfe squinted, trying to see any details as the five figures walked out of sight. "All I could really tell was that they were all wearing goggles."

"Engineers?" Silya guessed, and then shrugged. "Seems like anything they'd do would be pretty useless."

Alyane thought for a moment, and frowned, her calm melting away. "Felfe, go on ahead and warn Kain, now. They're going to turn on the heat system."

Felfe wasn't positive why it was so terrible – at least, he knew that Alyane and Kain could easily finish off fire elementals just like they had vanquished all the air elementals earlier. But he knew Alyane was always right about things, so he crawled as quickly as possible along the tunnel, hoping things wouldn't be as bad as the prickling on the back of his neck was telling him they would be.

Back in the part of the tunnel where there was the steep slope upwards, Alyane was trying to get some sort of hold on the metal to climb up, but it was impossible. There was no going back.

"That way is useless." Alyane said quickly, and crawled into the part of the tunnel after the slope to look through the grate for a moment. "They aren't moving. It would be too dangerous to go down there with all of them guarding Liam. And the distance to the ground… it's doubtful the impact wouldn't be fatal."

"I could slow my fall," Silya said hesitantly, "But they would still get me unless there was some sort of distraction."

"No time," Alyane murmured while already going forward through the tunnel. "We will have to go forward and hope there is another grate in a position closer to the ground and away from the guild."

Then the warlock paused, and backed up, forcing Silya to get back into the area near the slope, where there was room for them to stand. Alyane pushed Silya in front of her hastily, without much direction.

"You may go first. The fire elementals will appear from that direction." Alyane said, without a hint of pompousness or self-sacrifice evident in her expression or her voice.

Silya nodded and scampered into the tunnel, crawling as fast as she could with Alyane following, hoping that the engineers would take a very, very long time to get anything done. After all, there were five of them, and they would probably fight over the task, each wanting to be the one to please Liam.

Unfortunately, she was wrong. Undercity had four Quarters and a main area, which ultimately made for five control panels for five engineers. Liam had unknowingly ended up with the exact right number of workers for the job.

* * *

"Kain!" Felfe called out, seeing the familiar shape further down the tunnel. Kain, unable to turn around, glanced back over his shoulder with a questioning expression.

"I thought you were going to stay with them?" Kain continued on, motioning for Felfe to follow him while they talked.

"There's trouble, Alyane says it really bad." Felfe said quickly. "Something about the engineers turning on the heat system?"

Kain halted, and then began crawling forward with as much speed as possible. "Follow me, we have to get to somewhere safe."

"Somewhere safe?" Felfe echoed, but received no answer.

Kain rushed through the tunnel, looking down constantly in search of a metal grate at an appropriate location. Once or twice he paused, but then shook his head hurriedly and continued on, and when Felfe looked down as he passed the spot where Kain had stopped, he saw a metal grate that was far above the ground, looking out onto another section of Undercity than the one they had seen before.

After a few minutes of searching, something occurred to Kain. "Where are they?"

"Alyane and Silya? They stayed back there, I think." Felfe recalled worriedly.

"They can't…!" Kain cut himself off, distressed at what he was about to say, something like 'they can't stay there!' but it was too obvious what he was implying – the fire elementals were coming, spreading with them a solid heat that would make the metal all around them burning sheets, like being trapped in a giant oven. "The metal – they won't be able to…"

"Will they be okay?" Felfe asked hurriedly, insistently, at the reaction Kain had given. "Should we go back for them?"

"No! We have to keep going for now, we can't…" Kain cringed, the expression invisible to Felfe, and continued through the tunnel, still looking for a well-placed grate. "Damn it."

A short time later, Kain found another grate, and this time he punched right into it, and it flew off and, by the sounds of it, hit a floor not very far down. Kain slipped through the hole and Felfe did the same, ending up in an unfamiliar area of what a sign proclaimed the Magic Quarter. Kain led him, at a run, to a small room in the middle of several short halls, where they stopped.

"Stay here, I'm going back." Was all Kain said before he disappeared with a swirl of crimson cape and silky black hair.

Felfe didn't bother to protest, although he felt sick, unable to think straight. He didn't want Kain to go back by himself, to that tunnel that would soon become a burning hell filled with incoming elementals. He shuddered, and went into stealth, sitting there alone. He felt close to insanity there, worried for all three of them, and even so there was still danger to him, should anyone wander into this obscure part of the Magic Quarter. But that wasn't what he was concerned about. No, he had an inkling that if someone found him, if would be because they were looking for him.

Liam…

* * *

"They're coming. I will take aggro, and then you run." Alyane ordered tensely, beginning to cast shadowbolts at the incoming fire elementals both behind and in front of her.

Silya wasn't so calm, ducking as a fire elemental swung a giant fist and missed her, and then abandoned her completely to attack Alyane. "What about you!?"

Alyane didn't reply, hurling shadowbolts in almost every direction with unequaled swiftness. The elementals kept coming, as if there was no end to them, and Silya kept glancing from her teacher to the path in front of her, seeing the stray elementals keep appearing from the tunnel ahead of her. It wasn't like she wanted to save herself, but if Alyane insisted, she would try. But the path wasn't at all clear.

Alyane shouted what sounded like an incantation, and a huge cloud of fire burst from her, incinerating several nearby enemies and setting the metal below them on fire briefly.

"No! What are you- "

"Go!"

"No!"

A rain of fire fell from the air, shielding the warlock from view with falling meteors as the floor became burning hot and aflame.

Silya went forward, leaving behind her teacher in a stream of tears and shame, not even noticing that there were no more elementals coming from her direction, but Alyane was still surrounded, and the tunnel was burning, flames licking at the joints of the tunnel and making the air stifling with smoke.

"Don't come back for me!" Alyane called out, beautiful voice without poise and careful presentation in such a desperate moment.

Silya sobbed as she crawled quickly along the tunnel, racing against the flames and heat that would surely spread to her. In her mind, it already had, engulfing her body in melting warmth that turned to white-hot pain and dissolved her in drawn out final moments.

A light at the end of the tunnel alerted her to Kain's reappearance, and hope surged in her for a moment before it fell again, defeated.

"Silya! Where is –"

Silya shook her head so fast her vision flickered, and pushed at Kain. "C-c'mon!"

Kain, not questioning, began crawling backwards, sheathing the Hungering Cold. Silya knew she should have begged him to go back with her, back to Alyane and the smoky corridor, but his shield was fading, and if he went and Alyane was… unable to fight… he would be caught in the same burning trap.

They came to a grate after what seemed like days, and Kain slid out the opening and lifted her down, whereupon she collapsed into him and cried until her face hurt all over and his tabard was soaked with salty tears.

He said nothing, having nothing good enough to say, and they went to Felfe, both knowing there would be an explanation needed.

* * *

"What? No, not – that's not true!" Felfe protested, face falling rapidly. "You can't mean…"

Silya practically threw herself at him, releasing her grief and attempting to give comfort simultaneously without accomplishing much of each. The action told Felfe the answer, and he let Silya cry on him as he looked blankly at a wall on the opposite side of the room, not being able to comprehend death, not being able to even think about Alyane, impervious to everything, caught in a burning chamber of death and hellfire. Hellfire that she had summoned herself to save Silya.

Kain stood there, face like stone, regretting so much and yet having nothing to do now, nothing to say, no comforting words came to mind. The only thing occupying his thoughts was a vague picture of Liam, constantly there but always changing, sometimes smirking, sometimes laughing at him, driving him insane to the point that he willed the picture to change, and it did, with blood streaming down the blood-elf's face, or a sword sinking into his chest with a spurt of red and soaking his tunic. The other pictures were much worse.

Neither Silya nor Felfe seemed able to return to reality, and Kain was having a difficult enough time as it was with his own thoughts, so when the silence was marred by something other than Silya's muffled sobs, they were caught off guards.

Footsteps.

Kain spun around, Hungering Cold bared in a flash of icy air. Absurdly Felfe pushed Silya behind him and drew twin swords from their scabbards, as if he was somehow stronger than she was, although it was clear she was in no way fit to do battle.

"Ah, Lord Kain." That voice grated on their skin, fell over them like grease.

"Liam!" Kain snarled, and then his mouth fell open as others poured through the doorway, standing between him and Liam.

Silya was behind Felfe, Felfe was behind Kain, Liam was behind a group of guild members. It was Kain versus his guild, and a priest, a tauren shaman and a paladin stood before him, very clearly protecting that bastard, Liam. There were probably more around the corner, knowing how fair Liam liked his fights.

"Although I'd love to have a heart-to-heart talk," Liam began, obviously saying rehearsed lines again, "That will have to wait until you're on one side of the bars, and I'm on the other."

An arrow flew from his bow so fast it seemed he had barely raised the weapon. Kain felt the sting of a wyvern pierce his chest, but there was no pain. "What…?"

And then his eyes closed of their own accord, and his world faded into unconsciousness.

"Well, I suppose that might be taken the wrong way…" Liam drawled, as he had Kain's sleeping form handcuffed and restrained, and the guild members took their own leader to the dungeons. "After all, which side of the bars am I on?"

Two more guild members came from around the corner, took a look at Felfe and Silya, both of whom were much too shocked to do much besides stare, and chuckled. "What do we do with these, Liam?" Asked one.

"Take Lady Silya to join her brother." Liam commanded, sounding oddly comfortable in his imperious tone before he changed it to a quieter and kinder one. "But just handcuff the night-elf and bring him here, I'll take care of him."

Silya was dragged out of the room, still crying, and Felfe was easily disarmed and then handcuffed by a troll hunter. He protested as he was dragged towards Liam, but it accomplished nothing, and when Liam placed what looked like a comforting hand on his shoulder, he did nothing besides looking down at the stone floor, wishing he had perished in that tunnel of death.

"It's just you and I, now." Liam said softly, having dismissed the troll already. He had an iron grip on the handcuffs with his free hand, but even if he hadn't, Felfe knew escape was a useless idea, especially against a hunter.

"Just you, you mean." Felfe mumbled, frightened but trying to put up a tough front.

"Why do you say that?" Liam asked playfully, caring not that the night-elf had no desire whatsoever to even look at him.

Felfe had no cutting reply, so he directed his gaze at a certain spot on the floor and kept it there, refusing to give Liam the satisfaction of a reaction. That all changed when Liam tilted his face upwards with an insistent hand on his chin, and he was forced to look his captor in the eyes. Eyes that held not only a revolving green fire, but every manner of suffering possible, and then were glazed over with his pleasure at the current situation.

Felfe still said nothing, and tried to look unintimidated, but he was unable to stop his eyes from widening at what Liam told him next.

"I'm letting you go." The words were quiet and tinged with regret, but they were said just the same, and the next moment Liam took a skeleton key out of a pouch and unlocked the handcuffs.

Felfe wasn't sure what was going on, but it had to be a trap, so he hesitated instead of running as fast as he could away from the other elf, which was what he was urging himself to do. As the handcuffs clanged to the floor, a hand pressed lightly on his arm, not restraining but with just enough strength to imply an action to get his attention.

His eyes went slowly back to Liam's, afraid that the next moment he would be back in captivity, that the insane, twisted elf would change his mind in a few seconds.

Beautifully regretful eyes of green connected to his, as if in apology, and Liam leaned closer to him to whisper. "I ruin everything I see… I don't want you to be another broken doll."

Felfe shuddered visibly though he tried not to, and he opened his eyes carefully, thinking that he should just get out while he still could. He would have said something if he didn't want to maintain a sort of muteness to increase the chance that Liam might lose interest in him. Not that he had anything significant enough to say to something like that.

Liam smiled as Felfe opened his eyes, an odd smile that didn't look right on him, and when he spoke, it was an uncertain voice. "I have a request for you…"

Felfe froze, thinking that this was the trap, the catch that came from being set free. But he nodded, knowing that if he ran, Liam would catch him, and things would be worse. He had to wait for the right time to make his escape.

"Let me kiss you." Liam made it sound like an offer he could refuse, lightly trailing fingers through his hair as if he wasn't sure he had the right to do so, nor to ask such a thing.

It had to be a trap. It had to be some sort of trick, like he was going to whisk Kain in from around the corner to observe the torture if Felfe said yes, heart breaking and betrayal cutting both of them, hitting Kain too hard for it to ever be healed, like Kael.

"… Why?" Felfe asked quietly, his tone pleading for Liam to just say, 'forget about it' and let him go.

Liam withdrew the hand, letting Felfe stand there without any sort of touch, any restraint placed on him, and shrugged as if he wasn't the criminal mastermind he had grown into. "Because I'm asking you. That's all."

The idea of the trap, the simple request, the way he phrased it as some sort of personal favor that didn't really require any punishment if unfulfilled… it played with Felfe's mind, and he didn't like it, nor did he like the idea of going through with it. But how could he refuse and walk away feeling safe? If he made him angry, maybe it would all cease to matter. If he satisfied the last request… Liam made it sound like it was a final test before he could go free.

Heart hurting and promising to punish himself for such words later, Felfe looked up at Liam, his fiery hair and eyes of complex emotion, and said, "All right."

Liam's eyebrows rose, as if he hadn't expected the agreement, and then he looked relieved. "I was hoping you would say that."

His reply had the wrong, wrong feeling of a trap closing, but Kain was not dragged in to witness the scene, and no one else was, either. Just the two of them as Liam moved closer.

Hands were placed at his waist, and Felfe tried to make his body untense as Liam leaned in ever so slowly. His heart beat fast from fear, and however wrong it was, he wanted to close his eyes and pretend that it was Kain about to kiss him, and that his heartbeats were reacting to the impending passion. But those unfamiliar eyes commanded his to stay open as their lips touched softly, and Liam kneaded their mouths together hesitantly, grip tightening on Felfe's waist as he focused his strength there instead of giving in to his animalistic desires while he kissed the night-elf.

He said he didn't want to ruin him, and he seemed to be trying his hardest not to as he leaned in further, the kiss continuing but not deepening, velvet lips against his, the feeling sadly lovely in its restraint, in the way he could see Liam's eyes swirling with intensity that he kept from his actions.

And then it was over, and Liam released him, gone before it registered to Felfe that he had stopped kissing.

"Go. Go on." Liam said haltingly, rubbing a hand against his forehead and looking away from Felfe as if he couldn't let himself look. "This is goodbye, if you want to look at it that way."

Felfe wondered at the strange way he was saying it, like it was a final goodbye before death, and it made him feel even sicker from the after-effects of being kissed by someone other than Kain and the cryptic words put together. "Goodbye?"

"I have nothing to lose, now." Liam muttered to himself, as if unaware that Felfe hadn't left yet. "No one can stop me because I have nothing to lose."

Felfe felt ashamed as he left the room, ashamed most of all because he hadn't anything to say to the evil that was Liam, the evil that had a heart cloaked in darkness and sympathy disguised by a forked tongue. But most of all, he was ashamed because he didn't know what to do anymore, and he had just left a man on the verge of insanity alone in a lonely room of cold and stone. And Liam had said goodbye. Why?

Felfe felt ashamed because he didn't want to know why.

* * *

Expect the next chapter in a day or two - I'm working hard for once.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **It's safe to say that I _do not _own Warcraft. But I do own my 'creations.' This means all of my characters. And I have a lot of characters. I also own the MORMRIS.

**Disclaimer: **Just a note, but I've used a few song lines here and there throughout the series, and in case that's important, I'd like to say I don't own them – they just make nice lines.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

* * *

"_I have nothing to lose, now." Liam muttered to himself, as if unaware that Felfe hadn't left yet. "No one can stop me because I have nothing to lose."_

_Felfe felt ashamed as he left the room, ashamed most of all because he hadn't anything to say to the evil that was Liam, the evil that had a heart cloaked in darkness and sympathy disguised by a forked tongue. But most of all, he was ashamed because he didn't know what to do anymore, and he had just left a man on the verge of insanity alone in a lonely room of cold and stone. And Liam had said goodbye. Why? _

_Felfe felt ashamed because he didn't want to know why._

* * *

Liam walked into the dungeon, alone, without guards, without guild members clustered around him. His eyes fell on Kain, in a cell by himself at the end of the corridor. He had passed Yuren and Lance's cells in the passageway before this one, as well as Silya's, and all three had made some measure of defiance, with Yuren's being the most vocal, as was to be expected. Lady Silya's reaction had been barely noticeable, a sort of passive hate expressed in the way she glared at the ground as he walked by. She had been crying.

He had instructed one of the prison guards to let all three of them go as soon as he entered the door to the passageway where Kain was being held, and locked it. He wasn't sure why he was giving them the opportunity to cause trouble, but he figured it wouldn't matter because they wouldn't be able to interfere with his talk with Kain. And for some reason whenever he attempted to think of what he was going to do after this talk, he couldn't focus on anything, not plans, not what he was going to say to the guild members he was manipulating, not anything.

As he strode forward, eyes fixed on Kain who had noticed his presence, all Liam could think of was how he had let Felfe go, just like that. A whim, he would call it. He didn't want to admit to himself that he almost felt good for doing such a thing. A good thing, for once.

He was called back to the present by Kain's growl. "Liam."

Liam stood there, heart weary and looking oddly relaxed, as if nothing really mattered all that much to him anymore. He quirked an eyebrow at his captive and said nothing, curious at what the commander had to say.

"What… _Why_ are you doing this?" Kain asked, as if trying to understand the inner workings to be able to stop the gadget from functioning properly.

"Why?" Liam echoed, and mulled over the question. "I suppose it's because… I wanted to."

"Don't act innocent." Kain's narrowed eyes made him look even more threatening than usual. "You know I can see what you really are."

"Not innocent, no. Never innocent." Liam smiled vaguely. "But then, I suppose you can't tell the difference between innocence and honesty."

"You believe in all of your lies, don't you?" Kain sighed, exhausted from worry and hatred and fear.

"Hey, when you need something to believe, it's the easy thing to do." Liam said, as if making a joke. But by the way he sank to the floor and sat down, now at eye level with Kain, sitting there on the other side of the bars, it was clear that he entirely serious.

"How can you be so calm when you have…" Kain paused, keeping his tough exterior unbroken. "… done all of this?"

"I've always been like this. Don't you remember?" Liam hinted, still not very interested in the conversation.

"I'm afraid I don't." Kain said harshly, not caring for sparing his enemy's feelings.

"Well then, it hardly matters anymore. What's past is past, right?" Liam sighed, a more-or-less content sigh.

"If you came here to carry on a pointless conversation," Kain began, irritated on top of his pile of other negative emotions, "You are wasting your time."

"Oh, no. I don't think you understand." The red-haired elf seemed about to make a point of some kind, but lapsed into an awkward silence, after which he placed a hand on one of the bars and asked, "If I stuck a hand through the bars, would you bite it?"

"No." Kain replied automatically, disgusted. "What are you even talking about?"

"You still fail to see the point." Liam smiled hollowly, eyes glazed and uncaring. He gestured by holding up an arm. "If I stuck an arm through the bars, would you cut it off?"

"Is this your idea of a game?" Kain muttered, sickened.

"Would you?" Liam pressed on, semi-curiously.

"No." Kain said, but he thought maybe he would anyway. "I fight fair."

"So if we dueled, would you hesitate in striking me down?" Liam asked quietly, eyes narrowing in a way that clashed with his soft smile.

Kain was startled by the strange expression on the hunter's face, but tried not to succumb to the unnerving feelings of apprehension. "… Yes."

"And why would you do that?" Another tough question, as if this was Liam's favorite form of torture which he was only half interested in.

Kain refused to answer, having nothing that sounded good enough to his mind's ears. All his answers went something along the lines of 'because of the trouble you've caused me', 'because I hate you', 'because you've ruined things for me' or other lame replies.

So, instead of answering, Kain asked the imperative question that he didn't want to hear an answer to. "… Is he all right?"

"Who?" Liam echoed dumbly, and then smirked.

"Felfe." Kain said quietly, stonily.

"Oh, he's fine." Liam sighed. "As much as I'd love to describe all the horrible things I did to him…"

Kain's hands went into fists, but he restrained all other reactions. He had had too much time in the cell to not practice restraining himself. "What did you do to him?"

"Actually, nothing." Liam said lightly, as if it was an only vaguely interesting piece of information. "Isn't that a shame?"

"What happened?" Kain demanded, mind assuming various possibilities for the reason why Liam had done nothing. Most of the assumptions involved Felfe fainting or some other complication.

"I didn't feel like breaking him." Liam explained with a hint of confusion at himself. And slight regret. "I let him go."

"You're lying." Kain gritted his teeth. "Tell me the truth!"

"Sorry, but that's it. No juicy gossip here." Liam leaned back slightly and rested his hands on the stony floor of the dungeons. "I did get one kiss from him, though."

Kain's eyes examined him suspiciously. "You mean…?"

"It wasn't too difficult. I asked, and I supposed he thought I might kill him if he didn't say 'yes'." Liam smiled with a bit of fleeting satisfaction.

Kain seemed disconcerted, but he didn't lose his temper or curse Liam for all eternity, so Liam figured the reaction wasn't at all very bad.

"Now that I think of it…" Liam trailed off, looking pensive. Then he beckoned to Kain. "Come here."

"What?" Kain asked warily, but stood, and moved closer to the bars all the same, close enough that he could perhaps bite Liam's hand off if it went through the bars.

"Closer." Liam smirked, and stood up, so that he was again at eye level with his captive.

Kain narrowed his eyes, not liking whatever it was that he was doing this for, but inched closer to the bars.

"You know, I have no idea why I'm doing this," Liam grinned. "But hey, life's too short to make a big deal of things."

"I'm beginning to think that perhaps you're implying something I really don't want to hear." Kain said, starting to shrink back from the bars.

Liam, smiling, seized him by the collar to keep him there, close to him and only separated by the cold metal of the bars. "You know, it didn't even feel right kissing your poor night-elf. Made me feel guilty. Almost made me decide to… abandon all my plans."

"What?" Kain's eyes flashed green. "Liar. You're just sick enough to have enjoyed it."

"A little." Liam smirked. "But just the same, I couldn't help getting the feeling that I was stealing. So here, take it back."

Liam leaned forward quickly and kissed Kain, only a few seconds of lips connecting and Kain's shocked expression before he pulled away, and Liam let him.

Kain wiped his mouth with a hand, disgusted, and shot a glare at Liam, retreating to the furthest wall of his cell to sit there by himself, incredibly horrified that he had been caught in Liam's little game. The man certainly knew his manipulation talents.

"Now, was it really that bad?" Liam asked, sounding hurt, but it was evident he was just being annoying. "Well, no matter. You two are even now, so neither of you has to get all worked up over the fact that I tricked you into letting me kiss you. Ridiculous, how such things matter so much, isn't it?"

"Liam," Kain began, entirely irritated and just wanting to wake from the nightmare that was Undercity. "Leave me out of your sick games, or stop playing them."

"Don't worry." Liam was suddenly quiet. "I was planning to stop anyway."

This attracted Kain's attention, the abrupt change in demeanor, and he spared the energy to consider Liam's sincere expression and plain smile. "Now what are you talking about?"

"Nothing of any consequence." Liam said lightly. "Just an offer I have for you."

"I don't want any part in your games." Kain snarled.

"No, not games. The games are over." Liam replied, looking a little regretful of the fact. "I'm sure you'd like to get out of that cell, though. I mean, there's a little night-elf walking around Undercity like a lost sheep who should be tended to."

"Fine, what is this offer?" Kain figured it was another trap, but he would hear Liam's presentation of the trick this time, and find the catch before it caught him.

Liam seemed to ready himself, as if prepared to make a speech, and said, in an almost bored tone, "I'll let you out of the cell if you kill me."

Kain wasn't fazed. "Not only does that not make sense, but I doubt you want me to kill you in the first place."

Liam walked with casual slowness to the cell's door, stuck a key in it, and turned it halfway so that, with only a partial turn, the door would open. "See?"

Kain hastened over to the door and tried to seize the key by sticking his hand through the bars and around to the keyhole, but Liam withdrew the key before he could unlock the door all the way.

"Really, is that any way to repay a favor?" Liam teased, and then became almost serious, like a shift in his thinking. "You know, you win either way. You would kill me anyway if you got out of there. I know you would."

"Why do you want me to kill you?" Kain asked, buying time as he considered. He wasn't sure even now if he wanted to kill Liam, after all, though the protective urge was there, all this talking had dampened his rage, and after hearing that Liam hadn't done anything to Felfe, he hadn't really felt that he had the right to just kill the man, even if he had sabotaged the guild.

"That doesn't matter." Liam brushed the question aside.

"I… don't…" Kain struggled for the right words. "I would rather not be a murderer and make you into a martyr."

"Is that what you think it is?" Liam's eyebrows rose significantly. "You think I want to make myself a martyr to the rest of the guild, so they will rebel against you after my death, and I can watch from the world of the dead as they mistakenly pursue you to the ends of Outlands and-"

Kain said nothing, but Liam cut himself off, saying, "My mistake. No need to rant so much."

Kain did speak, then. "You didn't answer my question. Why."

"I did answer. It doesn't matter." Liam shrugged, an odd action when linked to such a subject of life and death.

"Fine." Kain sighed, a morbid sense of déjà vu following him as he took the Hungering Cold from its sheath. The prison guards hadn't needed to disarm him because of the unnatural sleep he had been in when thrown into the cell.

"Good. I had hoped you would make this easy." Liam sighed, relaxing and becoming casual once again now that he knew he had gotten what he wanted.

"How do you want to do this?" Kain asked, feeling disgusted at himself and wondering what he was thinking, making this sort of cruel bargain.

Liam had plainly planned this out. "I'll unlock the door halfway, you run me through, I turn the key the rest of the way. And hey, if I can't even do that, I'm sure you can reach it and turn it the rest of the way for me."

Kain waited, but Liam said no more. "Is that all?"

"Yeah." Liam said, nodding in a satisfied way.

"No funeral?" Kain persisted, feeling oddly friendly towards the man he was about to kill. This wasn't right. This wasn't right at all. But it was his only way to get out of the cell and try to save what he could. What else could he do? Liam would have been killed anyway once he was captured, for manipulation and evading banishment charges and the escape from prison the first time.

"I don't care." Liam said briskly. "Now, let's do this."

"I would have preferred to kill you a long time ago." Kain muttered, unnerved by the arrangement they were making.

"Well, didn't I say the same thing then? I told your night-elf to let you do it, but no, he had to interfere." Liam smirked. "Of course, I was a little crazy at the time, and I didn't mean it. But it was almost the same."

Kain recalled the incident, and Liam saying something like, _"Just let him kill me. Makes 'im feel powerful, yeah?"_

"I don't want to kill you." Kain said, still horrified at the concept. "I don't."

"Well, you're going to do it anyway." Liam insisted, hand turning the key halfway in the door.

"You're insane." Kain hissed, not used to having to hide his sensitive inner emotions so thoroughly. He wasn't a killer. There was a reason he was main healer, not main tank. And this was it. He wasn't a killer.

"Most likely." Liam said, morbidly cheerful at the thought of his impending death. "But come on, let's get this over with."

Kain came forward, grudgingly, holding the Hungering Cold in front of him to put distance between them. "You're serious."

"Yeah." Liam said, looking a little less enthusiastic now that the sword was pointed at him, but still having an oddly relaxed feeling around him.

"I'll make it quick." Kain promised, and eyes met for a brief moment, green-on-green, and Kain couldn't understand what in the World was making Liam do this.

"Sure, whatever." Liam said plainly.

"Any last words?" It was a sentence Kain had always figured someone would say in a threatening voice, but he asked it as a sincere question, almost begging.

"Huh." Liam thought for a moment. "That's tough."

"You don't have any?" Kain sighed, feeling even more sorry for Liam than he ever thought he could. "Nothing significant to say? No one to say goodbye to?"

"I already said goodbye to Felfe." Liam said dismissively.

Kain just shook his head tiredly.

"All right. I've got something." Liam said, and then made a slightly dramatic flourish and said, "No more words, it's over, now I can finally breathe."

Kain nodded hesitantly, and, when Liam looked to him with an utterly serious expression of reckless abandon, he slid the Hungering Cold into Liam's chest, like he was just spearing a bestial creature and not one of his own kind.

Liam let out a muffled gasp of pain, having bit down hard on his lip in order not to scream. Kain saw his hand, shaking and trembling, turn the key the other half of the way and the door clicked open.

Then Liam's hand went to the sword's blade, and he shoved it further into his chest until it protruded from his back. At that point, he removed his bloodied hands and steadied himself by resting them on the bars. Metal became coated in crimson blood.

Kain quickly removed the blade from Liam, cleanly, and saw the fatal wound it had made, that Liam had ensured that it made. Past his numb disconcerted feelings, Kain noticed with an odd attention to detail that Liam seemed overly conscious, though he should have been in excruciating pain.

"W… well…" Liam gasped, and coughed up blood that slid down his chin and to his neck. "Death has some… mercy… after all."

Kain let the Hungering Cold rest on the ground because of the blood tainting its surface making him unable to sheath it, and tried not to look at Liam. But he couldn't look away as the other blood-elf reveled in his last moments of life.

"You… you know…" Liam muttered, with a broken chuckle. "This i-isn't s-so bad."

And then he passed out, sliding down to the floor limply and leaving sprawling bloodstains on the bars where his hands had gripped them. Kain examined the sight with disbelieving eyes until finally he couldn't stand it, and, shoving the door open, knelt down beside the hunter, and felt for his pulse.

"Already…" Kain noted aloud, though there was no longer anyone besides himself in the room, and then had no reason to conceal his emotions any longer. "Well… I … at least it was… fast…"

His tears seemed ridiculous, falling upon his enemy's dead body, but they were there all the same, and after a minute had passed, and his tears seemed useless, he had a realization that could change everything.

He began to resurrect Liam, hoping the spirit had not yet left the body, as he suspected Liam would have done if he was controlling it. Light formed around his hands as he channeled the Light's energy into his target, a halo spinning around his feet, spikes of light flinging outwards from the circle.

He cast the spell and stood back, knowing that if it had been unsuccessful, nothing would happen, and he would have to carry Liam's dead body, both in his hands and in his mind, the latter for the rest of his life. He didn't want to be a murderer.

When the body on the ground twitched, Kain watched even more intently, startled and hopeful. Slowly, the body seemed to start healing, and when it had recovered significantly, Liam sat up automatically, a look of shock and complete disorientation on his face.

Kain placed a hand on his shoulder, not even knowing why he was saving him, and channeled more energy, healing what was left of the injuries.

"Kain?" Liam asked hoarsely, the blood in his mouth, despite the healing, catching him off guard. "Why the hell did you…?"

Kain said nothing for a moment, only wiped away the tears on his face with as much dignity as he could muster. "One person died today. I couldn't let it happen again."

"What?" Liam straightened up, and Kain even gave him a hand and helped him up. "Who was it?"

"Alyane." Kain said hesitantly. "In the air-flow system… after the heat was turned on. She was trapped inside."

Liam looked sincerely sad to learn of it. "I didn't mean for anyone to die… except me, I mean."

The door to the corridor banged upon, admitting a woman so beautiful, planets came to orbit around her, armies ceased their wars, royalty bowed in rows, and waves stopped crashing against shores. Her skin was the pale hue of ivory, smooth and soft. Her hair, like silky snakes, framed her face with raven locks, glistening obsidian spun into countless threads. Her lips were blood-red, stark contrast against her white skin, and almost always in a beautiful half-smile, a seductive smirk upon her beautiful face. And her eyes… her eyes were the most gorgeous emerald imaginable, sparkling like the surface of a green ocean and the swaying of grass in summertime.

"Did I hear someone spreading falsehoods about me?" Alyane asked, her dignity knowing no limits.

"Al…yane…" Kain was overjoyed to see her, despite his usual hatred of everything about her, but was too shocked to do much of anything in response. "You're alive."

Liam muttered, "I locked that door…" before realizing that this was the woman who had 'died' and consequently he looked a little happier as well.

And then Felfe came through the doorway behind the warlock, and time stopped, like it always did when Felfe returned to Kain after some sort of dangerous separation. But the usual scene never occurred because Felfe saw Liam sitting there, with blood all over him, and gasped.

"What… What happened!?" Fear spread across his fair face.

"I asked him to kill me." Liam supplied without a care in the World. "But the bastard resurrected me afterwards, so I guess I won't get to die after all." He didn't sound terribly disappointed, though.

And that is what friends are for.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

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Disclaimer:

It's safe to say that I _do not _own Warcraft. But I do own my 'creations.' This means all of my characters. And I have a lot of characters. I also own the MORMRIS.

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**Chapter Three: Epilogue**

Dinner that night, a fortnight after the nightmare, was a ridiculously eventful affair, as usual. Thousands of steaming plates, it seemed like, weighed down the table, and no one had to ask for seconds, because Yuren, grumbling under his breath like he didn't have such a motherly aspect to him, kept putting more on everyone's plates whether they wanted it or not.

The highlight of the evening was when Lance brought out the dessert, a large and golden plate supporting a tiered cake of chocolate, each layer lined with a circle of moonberries.

"Oh, muffins!" Felfe exclaimed happily, clapping his hands appreciatively. "Did you make that yourself, Lance?"

"I did." Lance beamed, seeming entirely proud of himself.

"After about forty _monstrous_ creations, that is." Yuren remarked, watching Lance's smugness dissipate. "The first fifteen seemed liable to mutate into swamp creatures."

Silya, unable to hold in her laughter any longer, ended up laughing hysterically into her linen napkin, which didn't really do much to muffle the noise. Alyane only smiled and laughed in a restrained but somehow pretty way, because it was just how she laughed.

"Think I could tame one? I've always wanted a swamp monster for a pet!" Liam joked, already taking a slice of cake from Lance.

"They're incredibly dangerous. I don't think you would last." Kain cautioned, sounding serious except for the way his eyes sparkled with mischief. Or perhaps that was the wine.

The wine which, this time, Guanji had no slipped any rage potions into. No, this time it had been mana potions. The mage enjoyed sipping his wine and feeling the burst of mana entering his system.

On the other hand, Felfe, who was halfway through his cake and had just started to feel the effects of the drug, started to nod off, and his head fell against Kain's shoulder.

"Felfe?" Kain reached over and brushed silver strands from over Felfe's eyes, and tried in vain to wake him.

"Joo tink he might be tired, mon?" Guanji suggested innocently.

"_I _think someone slipped him a mana potion," Liam commented, sticking a forkful of chocolate-moonberry cake into his mouth. "Mmmph mmm mmseph mmmmm."

"Well, we know who _that_ would be." Yuren looked accusingly at Guanji, and Lance did the same, looking righteously indignant for no apparent reason.

"Yes, it's either you, you, you, you, or you." Kain said with very slightly annoyance, pointing to Yuren, Lance, Guanji, Silya, and Alyane in turn. Each of them had tried to manipulate Kain and Felfe's relationship at some point, and though Silya and Alyane hadn't used drugs, they had been planning to.

"Technically, doesn't that make me the most trustworthy person here?" Liam asked hopefully, chocolate crumbs around his mouth making him almost comical.

Kain thought it out, and nodded. "I suppose so, in an odd sort of way."

"Well, the therapy _has _been helping," Liam admitted. "I'm not taking all the credit, yeah. You guys should come with me sometime, group therapy is always such fun."

"Yes, I'm sure Temarr makes a great partner for therapeutic exercises." Lance joked.

"He's nice! I invited him here again, but he said he was too busy writing his book." Silya lamented. "It's called _How I Wish I Could Die Again_."

"Sounds cheerful." Yuren rolled his undead eyes, being able to understand the undead plight better than any of his living friends.

"No more cheerful than you!" Lance grinned, and pulled Yuren to him in a bear hug. Yuren sighed but did nothing in protest, since such hugs had become routine once-a-day things.

"You know, I just thought of something." Liam said out of nowhere.

"Wonderful." Kain said hesitantly.

"Everyone is in pairs, here." Liam's note was not far-off, since Kain and Felfe, Alyane and Silya, and Lance and Yuren were all very obviously paired up, not necessarily in romantic ways, but some as good as. "Except me and Guanji."

"No way, mon. Joo can go find sum nice elf lady. Er, lady-man." Guanji replied with a wince. "Anyway, I be taken."

"I wasn't asking." Liam scowled, but then grinned again at the possibility of gossip. "Who's the girl?"

"Her name be Jolinda." Guanji said with a bit of pride, smiling so wide that it looked like his face was being divided in half. "She be da prettiest troll lady I eva see."

"Is she nice?" Silya asked interestedly, always looking for more friends.

"Ja, o' course." Guanji nodded enthusiastically.

"So that means I'm all alone, huh?" Liam concluded, more to himself than the rest of them, sounding only a little regretful.

"Liam-" Kain began with a cautious tone.

"No, no, I'm fine." Liam waved off the concern. "After all, I don't need some pretty-boy to shower me with love and chocolate. No offense to Felfe or anything, I wasn't talking about him."

"Felfe showers me with chocolate?" Kain asked semi-curiously, aware that everyone else was aware of how affectionate Felfe had gotten after the rather disturbing trauma two weeks earlier, newly appreciative of his lover. Although they still hadn't… well… but no one had to know that.

"No, it was just part of the joke." Liam smirked. "Anyway, I would want someone kind of… I don't know… someone who would just do whatever I said."

"Sounds boring." Silya sighed.

"Sounds like that messenger guy," Lance pointed out. "Didn't you manipulate him at some point?"

"Oh yeah, him." Liam blinked.

"Hmmmmmm… sounds like someone's doing some thinking." Silya teased.

"What? Naaaaaah," Liam waved off her interest with a very effeminate hand gesture. "He's not my type."

Liam trying to act overly feminine was comical in the best way, and Silya ended up laughing into the closest thing to her, which was Alyane, and consequently Alyane laughed along with her in order to lift the awkwardness of her shoulder being used as a tool to muffle sound. Kain didn't laugh so much as raise an elegant eyebrow, but for him it was nearly the same as laughing anyway.

Lance and Yuren just exchanged looks, and then started cleaning up, seeing the empty cake plates and the mostly-eaten chocolate-moonberry cake lying there now untouched.

"Well," Kain began, after the laughter had calmed down. "I shall have to leave a bit early to take care of him." And he lifted Felfe into his arms, and gave a last farewell before proceeding down the hallway, headed to his quarters.

Silya and Alyane likewise excused themselves, and walked to their room together. They weren't exactly student and teacher any longer – Silya had long realized that she wasn't cut out for the sort of hard work and focus it took to become unimaginably graceful like Alyane – so now they were good friends, and Silya had decided at some point that she didn't like having her own room because it was lonely, so Alyane let her invade her living quarters.

Guanji left after mentioning to Liam that the mana potions had been his idea, which amused Liam and also prompted a telling of the story of the rage potion, which was even more amusing, especially because Guanji didn't actually know any of what had happened after Felfe and Kain had left the table that night, and was making up wild stories of possible outcomes everywhere from Felfe running out to Silvermoon that night and partying with a bunch of gay blood-elves to Kain taking advantage of the drugged Felfe and pretending nothing had happened. Of course, the stories were made in good fun, and Liam had a feeling that none of the wild options Guanji presented were even remotely possible to have happened.

I mean, the two hadn't even done it yet, and Liam was aware of that because he had plenty experience observing couples – it was one of his hobbies – and he knew all the signs. Honestly, he was mystified as to why they hadn't, especially considering how adorable and irresistible Felfe was. Although he himself had managed to get over his lingering feelings for Felfe, luckily. Therapy had been unexpectedly helpful there, since it had helped him figure out why he always wanted innocent 'dolls' to seduce, and had nearly cured him of his obsessiveness.

But, well, he still couldn't see what could have possibly stalled Felfe and Kain's relationship in such a way.

* * *

Kain sighed as he tucked Felfe under the covers of the bed, and tightened the tie a little on his crimson robe before sliding into the bed beside the night-elf.

"You have the worst luck, Felfe…" He said lamentably, running delicate fingers through the elf's silvery hair. "Yesterday you fainted from exhaustion after training too hard, and the day before that we stayed up late having a pillow fight and you fell asleep. And then today one of them slips you a mana potion, as if they don't know what's going on with us already."

Felfe didn't stir, being fast asleep, but Kain smiled, not really minding how Felfe's bad luck worked in strange ways sometimes.

"What will it be tomorrow?" Kain mused, curious despite lingering exasperation. "I suppose you'll fall into a well and I'll have to drag you out… and then there will be such a big deal that you'll be exhausted again…"

Kain abandoned his listing of ways that they ended up not engaging in passionate love-making, and lay back on the pillow, ending his rant with, "But then, that's what friends are for."

* * *

**The End**


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